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Acura races into anime with 'Chiaki's Journey' web series

For the twelfth year in a row, Acura is a presenting sponsor and the official vehicle of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Acura created a four-part anime series called Chiaki's Journey combining the medium Sundance celebrates, Japanese anime, the automaker's fuller Type-S lineup, and the new Acura Integra hatch. Unlike most of the films at the festival, however, Chiaki's Journey runs a total of four minutes and 12 seconds, each episode lasting just over a minute. The story centers on Chiaki, a young Japanese woman from a family of racers who knows how to hustle a car around a track, but who has a temper that runs faster than her vintage Integra can rev. The villain is Erich Kang, the same rich and insufferably arrogant hotshot from every video game and car movie, piloting a non-descript blue hot rod. He's clearly the guy everyone would like to beat, and he knows he's that guy. When Chiaki gets behind the wheel to teach Kang a lesson in lap times, her uncle Noboru steps in to teach her the lessons she'll need to need to win.  Being so condensed, each installment plays like a trailer for a longer episode. Acura managed to fit in all the cars, though: Spot the 2022 MDX Type S, NSX Type S, TLX Type S, and 2023 Integra. The car brand got the obligatory Japanese rock anime intro as well, thanks to the all-female metal band NEMOPHILA doing the song "Raitei.” You can see the first episode above and the rest at Acura's dedicated Type S site.  Related video:

2024 Acura TLX with fewer trims and more equipment starts at $46,195

We'll start with the pricing for the revised 2024 Acura TLX, then recap the new math and what shoppers could get for the money. MSRPs for the sports sedan including the $1,195 destination charge, and the changes from 2023 launch pricing, are: TLX with Technology Package: $46,195 ($1,450) TLX A-Spec: $51,195 ($1,500) Type S: $58,195 ($1,750) There were eight trims on offer in 2023, a bit much for shoppers to parse and digest. Now there are three. The former TLX 2.0T entry-level trim is one of those biting the dust, resulting in an automatic $5,450 increase for a 2024 TLX compared to 2023 pricing at launch. A $500 price increase during 2023 means the real difference right now between a 2023 and a 2024 is $950. That TLX with Technology Package price pays for more standard equipment, Acura making its 12.3-inch all-digital display gauges factory fit across the board. The cluster presents two appearance choices here, a "Crafted" design that looks like two standard dials, and an "Advance" design that puts the tach and speedo on the periphery, filling the center with a speedo and various graphics for ADAS and infotainment. This trim also comes in front-wheel drive only, while the two trims above come standard with Acura's Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD). The brand's Precision Cockpit touchpad infotainment controller carries over with a touchpad and a larger screen, 12.3 inches versus 10.3, and the processor running it is faster. Wireless CarPlay and Android Auto are now included, while the ambient lighting control is now accessed directly from the main menu rather than being buried in submenus. Today's difference between a 2023 and 2024 A-Spec is $1,000. Taken like-for-like, though, this trim is actually $880 less expensive. The 2023 TLX sat on 18-inch wheels as standard, Acura charging $1,880 for an optional set of 19-inch wheels in Glint Black. For 2024, the 19-inchers are standard, wearing Shark Gray instead of Glint Black. On top of all this, the A-Spec gets gloss black on its new, reshaped rear spoiler, and gloss black diffuser encasing new round tailpipes in place of the old square covers. Subtract that $500 bump from last year, the 2024 TLX Type S is $1,250 than a dealer inventory 2023 TLX Type S. The top trim adds a third gauge cluster design in Sport+ mode that features a big horizontal bar graph for the tach, which sounds similar to what’s in the Integra Type S.

Acura may go all AWD in bid to mimic Subaru's success

Acura's struggles have been well publicized. The Honda-owned luxury brand doesn't seem sure of where it's going or what it's trying to accomplish, with its cars and marketing lacking a coherent theme. Now, a new report from Automotive News claims that the brand could follow the success of Subaru and (to a lesser extent) Audi, and adopt all-wheel-drive as standard across its model range.
"I think that's the way we should go," Acura boss Koichi Fukuo told Automotive News.
Acura already offers some form of all-wheel drive on every vehicle in its line aside from the lamentable ILX sedan. That could change as Acura begins rolling out next-generation versions of its still relatively new stable of sedans and crossovers.